Above: Shelby holding up a piece of ice in front of the LeConte Glacier in Southeast Alaska. Credit: Stephanie Hayes.
From the deserts of Nevada to Alaska’s icy peaks, Shelby Herbert’s journalism journey has taught her to embrace diverse landscapes and the stories that they bring. She has a passion for science reporting and has covered topics such as humpback whale communication in Alaska and prescribed fire in Nevada.
Herbert graduated from the Reynolds School of Journalism with an MA in Media Innovation in the winter of 2022, and served as a Hitchcock Project graduate assistant starting in the winter of 2021. As her final project for the master’s program, she created [biota]LKS, a five-episode podcast series focused on biodiversity and environmental conservation in Northern Nevada. She also worked as a science reporter intern at KUNR.
Currently, Herbert works in Fairbanks reporting for the Alaska Desk — a new rural news project from Alaska Public Media. Before that, she led a small public radio newsroom in Petersburg, a small island community in the Alaska Panhandle. In this interview, Herbert shares the beauty of science reporting and the challenges it brings. Her advice: self-care is key.
HP: How did you become interested in science and environmental reporting?
Herbert: I think my interest in science reporting actually has its beginnings in my failure to enter the hard sciences as a vocation. I’ve never had a good mind for numbers (and failed organic chemistry more times than I’m willing to admit), but I’ve never lost my fascination with the granular details of how the world works — from the way climate change is accelerating wildfires, to the way North Pacific humpback whales “talk” to each other during coordinated hunting parties.
Journalism has let me reconnect with the science world as a layperson, and my work to hold my audience’s hand and walk them through complicated science news has been deeply rewarding.
HP: How are you using the science communication skills that you learned during the graduate program?
Herbert: I have built off the work I did for the Hitchcock Project in more ways than I ever could have imagined. My former Hitchcock mentors taught me the fundamentals of digesting research and then turning it into stories that are accessible and fun for a broader audience. Though Reno feels like a world away, I’ve also found a surprising number of overlapping story topics here in Alaska — especially wildfires and resource extraction.
HP: What are some challenges you face as a science communication professional? How do you deal with those?
Herbert: It can be difficult to stay safely out of the nihilistic pit-of-despair when you’re reporting on the front lines of climate change. Here in Alaska, we are watching fish populations collapse and natural disasters worsen with every passing year. It’s hard to grapple with the grief about these grim prognoses. I’ve talked to so many scientists who feel the same way, and nobody seems to have a perfect solution on how to manage that frustration. This feels almost too trite to say, but I think basic self-care is an important part of the equation — and something that’s all too easy for people in the industry to neglect. Get some fresh air, call your loved ones, try not to grind your teeth. Oh, and never look at the social media comments!
HP: What advice can you give to students hoping to go into science communication?
My best advice is to maintain your network as best as you can. Meet with subjects “off record,” get a coffee with someone who is doing research that interests you. Those meetings will help you get comfortable with the people you’re writing about and deepen your understanding of the topics at hand. It can be so hard to find time for that in a deadline-driven reporting environment, but it’s always worth it!
Vanesa de la Cruz Pavas, M.A., is a reporter and science communication specialist for the Hitchcock Project. She is a graduate of the Reynolds School of Journalism’s class of 2023.
